United added non-stop service from Chicago to Shannon and Edinburgh last year and expands it 757-200 transatlantic service (with only 16 seats in business class) to Dublin, competing with partner AerLingus but adding another option to get to the Emerald Isle from Chicago.

Usually a new route means a cutback of an old route, but note that United is expecting delivery of six new 787s before next summer, five of which will be 787-9s with similar load capacities to the 767-400.

Watch for Award Space

The new flights have been loaded into the schedule, but no saver space has been released yet…but these new flights, at least for now, are empty. Keep an eye out for saver space in the coming days – you just might be able to book next summer’s travel now during that brief window after a new route announcement when a carrier releases a handful of award seats on the new flight. It happened with Melbourne and I expect it to happen here.

Bottom Line

It is always good to see additional international routes and these should be quite profitable during the busy summer travel season — we have so many clients at Award Expert who request travel to Venice, Dublin, and Paris and these new routes will provide additional revenue and award options to travel between Europe and North America.

About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he
travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120
countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry
and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York
Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News,
CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying
international relations, American government, and later obtaining a
law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel
industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in
the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House.
His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline
industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and
detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on
penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a
highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the
effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles.
Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of
points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the
direction and coordination of company travel.